Every ten seconds in America another sweet, innocent animal is abused. These animals can range from a household pet like a dog and a cat, to a circus animal. Also farm animals, could possibly be abused.  Animal cruelty is harming any animal for any other reason than self defense. Animal cruelty has been going on for a very long time going back to ancient times, but specifically around the twelfth century in England they but bait dogs which are chained dogs in a ring with Bulls and Bears and they would hurt the dog and a lot of the times kill them. I believe that using any animal for abusive entertainment purposes would be considered animal cruelty.
First off using animals could physically or mentally injure them. Some injuries include broken legs, and necks, spinal cord paralysis, severed toes, cardiac arrest and on occasions death. Lots of the animals who were involved in the fights who are fighting or who are bait animals are kept in cages only large enough for them to stand. They are also stacked in a warehouse style on top of one another. Where they are kept rarely has heat or air conditioning. Lots also weren’t groomed properly and had a ton of fleas, ticks, and internal parasites. Just like humans, animals can feel rejected, used, and unwanted. They can feel over pressured to do exactly what their owner wants, because some know that if they don’t make their owner happy they could get abused and on occasions not fed. A lot of animals are already hungry.

Another reason why I believe that using animals for abusive entertainment would be considered animal cruelty, is because it’s unethical, it’s also against the law. Dog fights usually involved gangs, which led to illegal gambling and illegal drug use, and drug dealing. Most of the time the gambling part just went wherever the fights went. People would bet on which animal they thought would win, then however many people won they’d have to split the money evenly. Sometimes more than one gang would be there and it’d be gang against gang, and they would put their best animals which would usually be pit bulls against the other. Most of the time there would be no mercy for the animals and they would continue until one had died. They would also steal other dogs from around their town. They would then put them in the ring with a “champion” which is a dog who has won three consecutive fights. One time they stole a Cocker Spaniel which is a beautiful soft and cuddly dog and put it in the ring it was quickly ripped to shreds and thrown into the pile of dead dogs. If the animal if severely injured and in no way can continue fighting at all, they will shoot them in the head with a 22 bullet, and then thrown into the pile.

We should be able to strengthen the punishments and the charges for animal cruelty.  Animal abuse here in Iowa is considered an aggravated misdemeanor, meaning if you intentionally injures, maims, disfigures, or destroys an animal owned by another person, in any manner, including intentionally poisoning the animal. The fine can’t be over five thousand dollars and the jail sentence can’t exceed two years. In other states like Mississippi, overriding, overdriving, overloading, torturing, tormenting, unjustifiably injuring, withholding food, or drinks, or cruelly beating or needlessly disfiguring will just be considered a misdemeanor. The fine can’t be over one hundred dollars and the jail sentence can’t exceed a year. Or in Georgia if you cause death or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering to any animal by an act of exclusion, or willful neglect. Willful neglect means the intentional withholding of food and water required by an animal to prevent starvation or dehydration. The fine can’t be higher than one thousand dollars and the jail sentence has to be a year or even less. In some countries like Japan, and parts of Russia dog fighting is still legal. Sometimes even encouraged. With all the money they make off of gambling the fine won't be anything compared to how much money they probably have. They could easily go back and start all over again torturing and killing a ton of more animals, before they get punished again. It will just keep happening until we enforce these laws even more than the police do now.

On the other hand lots of police would love to leave situations like this alone, because they don’t want to get involved. Except, it is their job to stop crime, enforce the laws, and keep everyone safe. They can bust dog fights for multiple crimes like illegal drug dealing and usage. Also children are often present which can cause them to be cruel to animals when they become adults. There is also no way that dogs could possibly defend themselves like humans can. We have to protect them like they are a precious child! What ever happened to man’s best friend? Another reason people could be for entertainment by animals is its quick and easy to make money. However animals shouldn’t have to make money for you. If you want to gamble go to a casino where animals aren’t being harmed! Or you can get a job! I bet most people don’t know that the average adult loses about three hundred and seventy five dollars by gambling every year. I'm almost certain people involved with dog fighting lose way more than that. As many as nine million men and women have gambling problems or an addiction. At least one million probably are or have been in a gambling debt before.

As you can see, I believe that using animals for entertainment and gambling purposes is not only wrong, but a form of animal cruelty. “It has nothing to do with the size or the breed. It has to do with who is behind the dog.” Cesar Millan had once said meaning no dog is born mean. The owner makes them that way, and teaches them how to be horrible killers. Animal cruelty can physically and mentally harm the animal(s), it’s unethical and in fact illegal, and in my opinion we should find any way we can to strengthen the animal cruelty laws that are already in place.